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Columbus area couple take up challenge of running a single screener
posted by
CSWalczak
on
September 28, 2009 at 3:50 pm
COLUMBUS, OH — The oldest theater in Franklin County, Ohio will be reopening in stages soon. Formerly the Drexel Grandview in Columbus, Ohio, now to be simply the Grandview, co-owners Jennifer Stancel and her husband David Nedrow will be seeking to show films films that typically do not play in towns such as Columbus. The theater will feature actual 35mm projection.
Regular programming — a mix of “classic, international and independent films,” according to Nedrow — is set to begin Nov. 6.
The theater will be “75 percent” finished when the 1920s movie house opens to the public Friday. Nedrow and Stancel are billing the weekend as a “last chance, first chance” event — the last chance to see some original decorations uncovered by construction and the first chance to see changes that have already been made, including new bathrooms and a rebuilt concession stand.
Read the whole story in the Columbus Dispatch.
Comments (9)
I wish them well. What this country needs is more independent, passionate single screen operators.
I wish I lived closer to Columbus; I would support their effort with my regular patronage. However, as the story following this one points out, the supply of indie films (especially on 35mm film)
may well be drying up.
I, too wish them well. Being the former owner of a restored movie theatre and current successful operator of classic movie society running movies on two area screens, here is my advice:
Digital is not a dirty word—-I use a 7000 lumen DLP projector and get a fantastic sharp, clear image on a 25 foot wide screen.
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been in a 35mm theatre and had to endure soft focus or worn prints. With digital my focus is always sharp and the prints are clean.
Digital is a very dirty word, don’t go there if you run 35mm right you will have no major problems.
Boy, a $50,000 renovation has now cost them $250,000 and Nedrow lost his job last February as well. This is very scary!
Keep in mind I owned and ran a historic theatre for several years, ran 35mm, collected 35mm film for almost 20 years. I like 35mm very much, but in order to keep from going broke especially in classic film exhibition is to avoid expensive shipping as well as have access to hundreds of titles not generally available from 35mm distributors. Especially the public domain material—the few independent distributors that had much of the obscure PD stuff in 35mm are long gone, and surviving prints are in collectors hands. Digital is getting better all the time, and it is no surprise most mainstream releases will eventually, over the next decade be mostly digital.
I attended the “sneak preview” opening of this theater, which coincided with a showing of the Manhattan Short Film Festival.
The seats are not yet installed (we sat on folding chairs), but the theater is really coming along otherwise. The formerly dingy bathrooms are now brand new, and the whole building has a much cleaner and inviting feel to it (without sacrificing any historical charm).
Jennifer was nice enough to give my girlfriend and I a mini-tour of the place, pointing out 20’s era wall decorations/stencils/paintings that the former owner had covered up with carpet(!!!). Some were heavily water-damaged, and Jen and David hope to properly restore them eventually.
I am thrilled that the Grandview has reopened. The theatre is very lucky to have David and Jennifer there to give the dedication and the attention to the theatre it has desperately needed for so many years.
Is it Still opened?